Wellcome Collection extends to accommodate more visitors

Wellcome
Collection has announced a £17.5m development project that will
create new galleries and spaces in order to accommodate a growing
number of visitors.

Wellcome Collection was designed to accommodate 100,000 yearly
visitors when it launched five years ago. However, since then the
number of visitors have surged, with the venue welcoming 490,000
people in the last year. The Brains exhibition was the collections most popular
eve, bringing a 20 percent increase in footfall.

Other Wellcome Collection highlights include a mummified
man from Peru estimated to be 600 to 600 years old, an elaborately
decorated torture chair made from blades, Napolean Bonaparte's
toothbrush, Charles Darwin's skull-topped walking cane and
Greco-Roman phallic amulets.

In order to accommodate the surge in visitors, Wellcome has
commissioned architects Wilkinson Eyre to
transform the venue and create up to 30 percent more gallery space
while doubling the capacity for public events. The upper floors
will be accessed via a "dramatic" new staircase. The aim is to
"create a truly interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven cultural
destination dedicated to inspiring wider and deeper engagement with
the connection between medicine, life and art".

There will be a major new thematic gallery that will hold
in-depth exhibitions over a year-long period with a mix of
permanent and semi-permanent displays. There will also be a
dedicated youth events studio that will provide activity space for
14-19 year olds Meanwhile the Wellcome Library's Reading Room will
be turned into a public space that aims to bridge the gap between
the research community and the public, with curated events and
displays of books and objects -- such as Egyptian papyri and MRI scans -- from the collection. Meanwhile the research
library will be expanded.

Simon Chaplin, Head of the Wellcome Library, said: "Opening this
fabulous resource more widely to the public will stimulate and
reward the curiosity of our visitors, creating a new community
bound by their interest in creating and sharing ideas."

The Hub will be created to host interdisciplinary research focused on public engagement
collaborations, with grants being offered for group residencies. A
series of events -- called Spotlight -- will offer a forum of
experts to come together and debate key topics and policy issues
affecting medicine, science and society.

The work will be carried out in summer 2013, with a view to
complete the following summer.

Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement
at the Wellcome Trust said that the success of Wellcome Collection
is "a wonderful affirmation of our conviction that adults are
interested and inspired by complex themes that make connections
across science, history, art and health".